[mellavora]

>Octopuses seem to have quite a bit of independent cognition in each of their arms, which are wrangled by the central brain.

Yes, that's inherent in the design. All grey matter (optimized for local intercommunication), no white matter (optimized for sending signals between regions).

Each arm has its own ganglion ("CPU") and the central unit struggles to keep up with these and keep them coordinated.

[mistrial9]

living brains are not "CPUs"

[exe34]

it's a metaphor, you very clever person who though you had a gotcha.

[astrange]

They're SoCs.

[Dansvidania]

why not?